


Wake Me Up When September Ends

by lpfan503, Penelope_Ink



Category: Linkin Park
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28398123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lpfan503/pseuds/lpfan503, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penelope_Ink/pseuds/Penelope_Ink
Summary: It's September 30th, and Anna comes into Mike's Twitch stream to explain about her busy schedule. AU. Bennoda. Has nothing to do with Green Day. *oneshot*
Relationships: Anna Shinoda/Mike Shinoda, Chester Bennington/Mike Shinoda
Kudos: 2





	Wake Me Up When September Ends

**Author's Note:**

> Someone in our followers posted a clip on Twitter today of Mike’s stream. The following fictional(ish) scenario is what happened when we were in the same room together. Much writing is happening, and this was a break in the day. We hope you enjoy - and take it in the lighthearted spirit in which it is intended.

Mike Shinoda was bored.

Anna had come in during his Twitch stream - again - and started talking about all kinds of things he only had one ear on. Just enough to smile and nod at the right time while she rambled about this and that. He’d casually leaned over and pressed play on his console, then settled back to wait for the text he knew would be coming.

Even though it would get caught by licensing and muted, Mike knew when he hit the button and Green Day’s _Wake Me Up When September Ends_ started to play, the person he was hoping would hear it would hear it live. It wouldn’t matter if it was muted later. Neither of them would be watching the stream later. There were other things to get to, once October first rolled around. 

“Someone just said I’m an inspiration for writing,” Anna said, pressing a hand to her chest. She looked over at her husband and smiled before she looked back at the Twitch comments to see what else the Linkin Park fans were saying about her. 

Anna giggled as she read the next comment in chat. “Oh, I do need inspiration for my writing,” she admitted, trying to play off the fact that she hadn’t released anything since her first and only book back in 2014. 

Mike looked up from his phone for a brief moment. “Anna, needs… Anna doesn’t _just_ need inspiration,” he said, smiling as a text from Chester popped up. “She needs, you need like, I don’t know, just a better schedule.” 

“I don’t know, it’s hard. I haven’t done that much consistent writing this year,” she admitted. “If I had more time, I could probably give something shoppable to my agent. I should probably do that this week.” 

“Yeah? This week?” Mike cut his eyes over to his wife quickly. She was clearly enjoying the spotlight, but it irked him a little how she was all up in his stream, pretending she worked full time at writing. “You’ve said that before. This week… last week…” He let the suggestion trail off and glanced back at his phone. He had a waiting text he was dying to open. 

“Once we hit October, the rest of my year is shot,” Anna was quick to point out. 

Mike looked right at the stream, his eyes wide as he laughed, his expression clearly saying _what the fuck?!_ “From October to January!” he exclaimed before falling back in his chair and shaking his head. 

“Well, okay, here’s how it works when you have kids,” Anna explained as she sat perched in front of the camera. She tucked a piece of her short blonde hair behind her ear. “I really can’t do anything from October through January.” 

Mike kept one eye on the chat and one eye on his Twitch homescreen while Anna talked. He was always amazed how the chat blew up when Anna came in the room. Even when she was spouting nonsense. _Maybe they like her more than me. No, that can’t be it. They don’t watch my stream to see her. She has been coming in here more, lately. She’s jealous of how much time I spend in here. Chester doesn’t mind. He watches my streams sometimes, and he never complains._

“Let me explain how it is,” Anna insisted. “Because it starts in October because we have Halloween and I make the kids’ costumes every year. And I’m involved with their stuff at school volunteering, and that takes a lot of time. Then it’s November and we have Thanksgiving. We usually go up to northern California for a week.”

Mike wanted her to stop talking. He opened the text from Chester after glancing her way again, but she was completely absorbed in her story telling. _That’s the most storytelling she’s done all year._

**Chester:** _I hear you playing our song. Tomorrow is October 1st. Fuck, it feels like it’s been a long time since last February. Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up when September ends._

It was hard to hide the grin on his face, but Mike managed. He put the phone down and leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, spacing out while Anna worked through her convoluted reasoning. 

Anna was in the zone as she tried to explain in detail her busy schedule, giving justification to her lack of progress on anything creative over the last six years. Soon to be seven. “Then it’s December and we’re getting ready for Christmas. I do all the elf duties, too.” She glanced Mike’s way. The Elf on the Shelf debate had been a huge argument a few years ago. Anna was proud that she had won, even though that meant she was stuck moving the Elf around the house every night in December. It was exhausting. 

But she had no desire to dive into that on air, not with her fans watching. “Then there’s kind of down time between Christmas and New Years, but I’m packing away all the Christmas decorations. Then we celebrate Japanese New Year, so that’s a big feast. It’s time consuming,” she emphasized, leaning forward so the camera got her serious expression. “There’s also, like, five birthdays that month and then in February Mike and Jason both have their birthdays, and oh! Valentine's Day. So from October to February, I’m really busy. So basically, I’ll write something on February fifteenth.” 

The mention of Valentine’s day caught Mike’s attention, and he lifted one eyebrow in a smirk. He was thinking about the day before Valentine’s Day, which was always much more exciting than the actual holiday. Last year there had been chocolate syrup involved, and that had been ridiculous and yet fulfilling in a whole new way.

Anna waited for Mike to add something about her busy schedule, but when he didn’t, she decided she was done. Besides, she could hear one of the kids just outside in the hallway, needing something. She stood up, put her hand on Mike’s shoulder and bid him and the Twitch audience farewell. It was always fun to join her husband for a few minutes, but that was enough. Besides, it was September 30th. Starting tomorrow, she wouldn’t have any time for Twitch streams. She had Halloween costumes to start planning. 

Mike didn’t glance behind him as she went, mumbling, “love you, too,” after she called the sentiment to him before closing the studio door. He hated that. It always felt like she was putting her stamp of possession on him, live in front of his Twitch audience. He felt his phone vibrate again, and managed to ignore it until he’d done his shout outs for the day and ended the stream. 

He made sure his camera was off before he picked up his phone, knowing whatever Chester had texted before he could reply to the last text would make his cheeks flush. 

**Chester:** _Mhm, I see you double scratching your nose. Sexy. I know it’s me you’re thinking about every time._

This time, Mike turned and glanced at the studio door. It was glass, and he could see through it, but Anna was nowhere to be found. He hunched over his desk, his phone hidden from view if she did manage to walk by.

**Mike:** _I love that this is our song, by the way. It gets a lot of play from Valentine’s to today. It is kind of ironic this year that it’s been seven years since she published anything._

He hit send, and immediately felt bad. Creativity wasn’t something that just came naturally to most people. He could sit down and write a beat in a two hour stream, but apparently writing books just didn’t work that way. Not that he could tell from being married to an author, anyway.

**Mike:** _Doesn’t matter. Come October 1st, I’m all yours. It’s the most wonderful time of the year._

**Chester:** _You’re so fucking cheesy. But then again, you’re my favorite Christmas gift every year._

Mike giggled. Somehow, there was always something forgotten on Christmas Eve in both the Shinoda and Bennington households. Something that took hours to find in the presidential suite of the Omni hotel in Los Angeles. Coming home to wrap presents until the wee hours of the morning never seemed to be a chore after he and Chester celebrated Christmas together.

**Mike:** _And Halloween candy. And Thanksgiving treat. New Year’s champagne? I’m a fucking glass of champagne, Chester._

**Chester:** _Mmmmm I love champagne. You are so bubbly and tickle my dick. I mean nose._

**Mike:** _You know I love tickling your dick. So what do you say? October starts at 12:00 tonight._ He looked at his watch, thinking about options that could get him away from the house at such a late hour. 

**Chester:** _I just want you. I’m so glad Anna’s so fucking busy from October to Valentine’s Day every year._

Mike clicked around on his phone for a minute. He could be at the Omni in forty-four minutes, according to the traffic map. That would only get better the closer to midnight they got. Add in time for a quick shower, and he’d be on his way to the hotel before the clock rolled to midnight, clean and minty-fresh in time to tickle Chester the way he liked best.

**Mike:** _Whatever you did to get away last year, do it again. Whoever gets to the hotel first gets the room._

**Chester:** _On it. I’ll see you there when September ends._

****

The End! 

P.S. No actual hate to the Shinodas. This was all just in fun. <3


End file.
